CB2 starts construction
Real Estate — By Thatcher Imboden on April 15, 2011 12:12 am
Demolition underway at the northeast corner of 31st and Hennepin in Uptown Minneapolis. Photo by Anders Imboden.
Edited April 15, 2011 7:28pm:
The Southwest Journal has an article on the CB2 store coming to Calhoun Square. It identifies a November 1, 2011 opening date.
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Original Post:
This week marked the beginning of the construction of a new CB2 store in Uptown Minneapolis. Work started with the demolition of an existing two-story retail/apartment building on the northeast corner of 31st Street and Hennepin Avenue. By the end of the day today, Thursday, the building was completely gone.
The CB2 store will be a stand alone building associated with Calhoun Square. The store is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2011. CB2 is the sleeker, younger, more loft-style version of Crate & Barrel. According to their website, CB2 operates 8 locations in 5 states and will open a store in Toronto and Washington DC later this year.
Thatcher Imboden
How cities work and change, how they are the product of their inhabitants and outside forces, and the resulting livability keep me thinking and dreaming about the future. I work in urban real estate development, am Past President of an Uptown business organization, grew up in Uptown, was on an Uptown neighborhood association Board, and am an Uptown and Lyn-Lake historian.
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8 Comments
What was the final ruling about the number of stories? Are they still putting the structure in place to add on later?
I’m going to miss that corner building.
Did they save ANYTHING from that building?
I believe so. I think they recycled some of it a year or two ago. I do recall them removing asbestos, though I wouldn’t characterize that as saving it. ha.
I’m interested in seeing what the final CB2 Project will look like. The renderings I’ve seen are a throwback to 1950s first-generation big box stores. I’m skeptical, but I’m holding judgement until I see the final product.
Hopefully CB2 can be a good anchor to the improved Calhoun Square, which still has a retail spaces open and feels slightly empty.
I currently live in NYC and absolutely love CB2. This will be a great anchor to Calhoun Square. CB2 has very cool Euro/Asian style furniture. It is essentially an upper scale version of Ikea…without the high-end furniture prices.
CB2 was an insult to the average income consumer. I went in today for the “premiere” opening. The furniture was flimsy and incredibly cheap. I sat on one of the couches and played around with one of the lamps. I looked at the price of the couch and it was retailing around $1,299.00. The lamp was $229.00. The cheap finish and structure of the couch made me think “Hmmm” cool this will be a cool looking cheaper version of IKEA…I could not believe that they put this stuff out on the showroom with convincing pride that anyone should buy it. I spoke with two of the managers and they were incredibly defensive and unprofessional. Not impressed and this place will not last longer than the new buzz of a brand new store.
I went to the premiere opening and looked around. I thought some of the stuff, mostly non-furniture, wasn’t a bad price point for what you got. Plates for $3 – $5 a piece with a handsome look. The furniture looked cool but I agree, the prices were far higher than Ikea and seemed similar to the price point of normal CB. That said, I wasn’t able to judge the quality since I didn’t sit on any of it. CB2, paired with Kitchen Window, Go Home, Roam, and Design Within Reach, make a nice reason to come and shop Uptown. Too bad you had a negative experience with them.